Reply to How would you rank NESCACS academically?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "How would you rank NESCACS academically?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How do these LACs compare to national universities? Is Williams HYPSM level? Are Bowdoin and Middlebury comperable to Duke and Northwestern? Or are they lower[/quote]

In what way do you want to compare them? Lots of professors send their kids to LACs because they feel like they'll get a better educational experience than at a larger university.[/quote]

This. I went to Harvard UG and regret (wish I had gone to Pomona). Although the name opened doors, I was far less well prepared for grad school than my LAC peers. Both my kids will attend LACs for UG, can apply to Ivies for grad if they want.[/quote]

Not sure that this post is genuine. Seems like made-up BS to me.[/quote]

It is absolutely genuine. Most of my Harvard classes were huge, in which I only interacted with TAs, until the final two years. Even then, professor interaction and feedback was negligible--most of them only cared about their graduate students. That is not the UG experience I want for my kids.[/quote]

Must have been a few decades ago that you attended Harvard.[/quote]

Lol, so Harvard has completely changed its approach to education in the past 20-30 years?[/quote]

NP. It really depends on the department. I was in a small department and in seminars starting my first year. Also, I was extremely well-prepared for graduate school, probably the most prepared in my PhD cohort, which as made up of kids from other Ivies, some SLACs, California schools, some international schools... those are the first that come to mind.

Also, I can't think of any 50-person class taught by a grad student. I'd be very surprised if this were true. Besides being teaching assistants, grad students taught most of the required languages classes (10-12 students). Sometimes an ABD would apply to teach an expository writing class or something along those lines.

It is true that many Harvard profs don't particularly care about teaching-though there are also incredible lecturers and teachers in general-but there is no need to make stuff up.

All that said, personally I, too, am steering my oldest toward a NESCAC school. The competitive atmosphere at Harvard is stimulating and energizing for lots of people. I liked it and a lot of my peers loved it, but I think it won't bring out the best in my kid. Also, I think NESCACs make a lot of things easier for students, they are just generally warmer and more supportive. 
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics